


What To Expect (When Raising An Alien)

by Dragonsandducks



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Genre: Birthday, Blizzards & Snowstorms, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Found Family, Gen, Minor panic attacks, ah the unparalleled excitement of (checks notes) changing a tire and fixing a fence, definitely inaccurate cooking, i forgot the dog's name so i just. left it out, my fics are fucking action packed, probably inaccurate weather, the struggles of raising a hyperactive blue alien hedgehog. we can all relate, you can tell when i'm doing Serious Tagging because things are Capitalized
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22747576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonsandducks/pseuds/Dragonsandducks
Summary: Tom and Maddie weren't prepared to have a young alien in their care, but he was depending on them now. Parenting was going to be harder than they thought.
Relationships: Maddie Wachowski/Tom Wachowski, Sonic the Hedgehog & Maddie Wachowski, Sonic the Hedgehog & Tom Wachowski
Comments: 59
Kudos: 523





	1. Morning

**Author's Note:**

> me? writing sonic fanfiction in 2020? yeah. 
> 
> anyway i love this family and i will never shut up about this movie

Sonic slept in the first morning, tired out from all the energy of the road trip and their fight with Robotnik. 

Tom woke him at ten. “C’mon, sleepyhead,” he said, “if you don’t get up, you won’t have any pancakes.”

Sonic groggily opened his eyes. “What’re pancakes?” he mumbled tiredly. 

“You won’t know if you don’t come downstairs.” Tom stood, heading back to the attic door. 

There was a groan from Sonic’s bed, his curiosity at war with his exhaustion. Eventually, he pulled himself from the warm embrace of his blankets and rushed downstairs. 

Maddie was already seated at the counter, reading a newspaper as she ate. She smiled at Sonic as he zoomed in. “Look who’s awake,” she teased.

Sonic hopped up onto a chair as Tom slid a plate of pancakes in front of him. “ _ These _ ,” he said proudly, “are pancakes.” Sonic reached to grab one, but Tom placed a fork in his hand instead. “Manners, Sonic,” he chided. 

“Pancakes are burning,” Maddie said, not looking up from what she was reading. 

“Huh?” Tom turned to see the pancakes were indeed burning, and hurried to flip them over. 

Sonic stabbed his fork into the soft pancake and took a cautious bite. 

His eyes lit up. “These are great!” he said through a mouth full of pancakes. 

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Maddie said, “it’s rude.” Sonic closed his mouth and nodded, before continuing to devour the pancakes. 

By the time Tom had turned back around, last of the pancakes cooked, Sonic’s plate was completely empty. “Hungry, huh?” 

Sonic nodded vehemently. “I wanna learn how to cook!” he exclaimed, rushing to the stove. He bounced on his toes in front of Tom. “Please, please, please!” 

“Later, okay?” Tom said, placing the dishes in the sink. “We’ll make dinner together. Deal?” 

Sonic grinned. “Deal!” 

Maddie closed the newspaper, moving her dishes to the sink along with Tom and Sonic’s. “I’m going out to run errands,” she said to Sonic. “Want to come?” 

“Cool! I’ve never run errands before,” Sonic mused. “What are we buying? Eggs? Milk? Can we go right now?”

“Brush your teeth first,” Tom called as he moved into the next room, getting ready for work. Sonic groaned. 

“Fine!” In a flash, he disappeared upstairs, and was back a moment later. “Done!” 

Maddie grabbed her wallet. “Then let’s get going,” she said.

Sonic’s face twisted in confusion. “Don’t you need the car keys?” 

“Nope,” Maddie said. “We’re going to walk.” 

* * *

Sonic was practically bouncing as they headed down the sidewalk. “So,” Maddie began, “do you like living with us?” 

“Yeah,” Sonic said. “I’ve never really had a family before. It’s… nice.” 

Maddie smiled, ruffling the quills on his head. “I’m glad.” 

As they reached the town’s more populated area, Sonic noticed that people weren’t staring at him. It seemed the town had taken his arrival pretty well, all things considered— some even waved at him or gave a polite “hello.” 

“In here,” Maddie said, nodding at a general store. She pushed the door open, the bell attached to it giving a satisfying chime. 

Sonic stared in wonder at the shelves stocked with packaged food. “This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen,” he marveled. 

Maddie gave him a strange look. “Really?” 

Sonic nodded, jaw slack. “What do we need to buy? All of it?” 

Maddie chuckled, pulling up the shopping list on her phone. “We need… Milk, dog food, orange juice—”

In a blur of blue, Sonic returned with his arms full of all the aforementioned items. “What else?” he asked excitedly. 

“Sonic,” Maddie began, “that’s cat food. And that’s almond milk.”

Sonic looked confused. “There’s a difference?”

Maddie smiled. “Let’s slow down and I’ll explain,” she said, grabbing a shopping basket. “Want to hold the basket?”

* * *

Sonic dropped the bags from his shopping trip with Maddie on the counter, grinning proudly. “Look at all the groceries we got!” 

Tom looked at the spill of groceries over the counter, then up at Maddie, who was staring at the mess with similar concern. 

“Okay,” Maddie said, clapping her hands together, “let’s put this all away.” She grabbed the two cartons of milk, and after a second, added, “Neatly.”

Sonic began to place the bread in the fridge, and then Tom had to explain the criteria for what belongs and doesn’t belong in the fridge. “So milk goes in the fridge,” Sonic said. 

“Yes.”

“But not bread.”

“Yes.”

“But eggs?”

“Yes.”

“What about dog food?”

“No, that goes in the garage.”

Sonic frowned, confusion crossing his face. “How do you decide?”

Tom struggled to find the words. He looked to Maddie for help. “Foods that can go bad without being cold,” she said, “like milk, that goes in the fridge.” 

Sonic nodded. 

“But food that doesn’t need to be cold can be stored somewhere else,” she explained. “Like bread.” 

“How do you know if it needs to be cold or not?” 

Now it was Maddie’s turn to look at Tom for help. “We’ll work on it, okay?” he promised. Sonic’s frustration faded. “You should go work on your homework,” he said. “You’ve got catching up to do for the start of the year.” 

Sonic groaned. “But it’s boring!” he complained.

“It may  _ seem _ boring,” Maddie said, “but homework can be fun sometimes! Like if it’s a subject you like. For me, I always enjoyed doing science homework.” 

Sonic frowned. “That’s weird,” he said. 

“That’s rude,” Tom said. “Now. Homework.” He put on his best Stern Voice, and Sonic trudged up to the attic to start on his work. 

Tom sighed, leaning onto the counter. “It’s like raising a kid.”

“With the attitude of a teenager,” Maddie added, but there was an edge of fondness to her voice. 

Tom nodded. “We’re going to need to pick up some parenting books. Or we could ask your sister.”

Maddie laughed. “Absolutely not.”


	2. Cooking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> every time i get into a new fandom i write a cooking fic, and i have no idea why, but it's fun either way so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

"Don't touch the stove when it's on," Tom said, "and don't touch anything _on_ the stove. Pots, pans, whatever. Are you listening?"

Sonic nodded, practically vibrating with excitement. "Can we start now?"

Tom sighed. "Yes." Sonic was next to the stove in a second, having to stand on his tip-toes to see the recipe resting on the countertop. 

"Grilled chicken," he read. "Aw, that sounds boring."

"We're starting simple. Once I'm sure you won't burn the house down, we can make some more complicated recipes," Tom said, pulling a cutting board from the cabinet. "I'm going to trust you with a knife. Can I trust you with a knife?"

"I can use a knife," Sonic argued, grabbing the knife from the counter. He poked the tip of it with his finger. "Ow." Tom plucked the knife from his grasp. 

"Yeah, no knives for you," he said, placing it out of Sonic's reach. The hedgehog pouted. Tom handed him a bottle of olive oil. "Take this," he said, grabbing the knife and beginning to cut the chicken into smaller pieces.

Sonic scrunched up his face, looking down at the olive oil with something like contempt. "What do I do with it?"

"Just hold it," Tom said, hoping the hedgehog would stay occupied with that long enough for him to do most of the actual cooking work. 

"This is just a distraction, isn't it?"

"No, this is a very important job."

"You're lying."

"Who's the cooking expert here, me or you?" 

From the other room, they heard Maddie chuckle. "You are _not_ a cooking expert," she called. 

"That means I'm the expert!" Sonic cried triumphantly, placing his hands on his hips. 

"Nope, neither of you are experts," Maddie said. 

Sonic, slightly betrayed, returned to his pouting, now glaring at the olive oil. 

Tom put the chicken in a bowl. "Okay, pour some olive oil into the bowl." Excitedly, Sonic opened the bottle and upended it over the chicken. "Not that much!" Tom cried. 

"I'm improvising," Sonic said. "What's next?" 

Tom shook his head. "This is going to taste terrible," he mumbled, watching with concern and disgust as Sonic poured salt into the bowl. 

* * *

The chicken was, at least, neither over nor undercooked. 

Sonic was the first to taste it, expecting it to be exciting and flavorful thanks to his additions. 

Instead, he spit it back onto his plate in disgust. "Ugh!" he said, grabbing his water glass. "That's terrible!"

"You put an entire bottle of olive oil on it," Tom sighed, "what did you expect?"

"Not that!" Sonic said. 

Maddie gave the chicken a nervous poke with her fork. "So," she said carefully. "Want to order in pizza?"

* * *

Twenty minutes and a delivery later, the family sat at the table with an open box of pizza. 

"We'll try cooking again another time," Tom said, comforting the disappointed Sonic. "At least you've learned your lesson— the recipe knows best."

Sonic took a bite of pizza, nodding and trying to maintain his sad attitude. However, he found it hard to be sad while eating pizza, and quickly began to perk back up. "We should make pizza," he said. 

"Pizza... might actually not be a bad idea," Tom conceded. 

Maddie agreed. "You can't put too much olive oil on a pizza."

"Nah, he could find a way to," Tom said, nodding at Sonic. 

"I totally could," Sonic said proudly. 

"That wasn't a compliment."

"I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, as i say with every cooking fic: i dont know how to cook good.


	3. Winter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so. i live on the east coast. i do not know if it snows in montana, but let's pretend, for my sake, that it does.
> 
> thanks y'all.

If there was one thing Sonic hated, more than anything in the whole world, it was being cooped up inside. 

"Why can't I go out?" he whined, pacing the area in front of the front door. "I won't be that long!"

"It's too cold," Tom said, sitting on the couch next to Maddie. Both were reading, and rather content with it. There was a blizzard raging outside, and nobody was leaving their house until it was over. "Why don't you come read with us?"

"I already finished my book," Sonic argued. It hadn't taken too long— he was a fast reader. 

"We've got plenty of books," Maddie said, not looking up from the novel in her hand. "Or you could play a video game, or take a nap... there's plenty to do in the house."

Sonic groaned. "I've done everything there is to do in the house!"

"Why don't you clean your room?" Tom suggested. 

Sonic let out a scandalized gasp. "My room _is_ clean _,_ thank you very much!" He leaned against the side of the couch. "Why can't I go outside?" he asked again. 

"You'll get sick, Sonic," Maddie said. 

"You don't know that. I'm an alien. A _human_ would get sick."

Tom raised his eyebrows, turning to look at his wife. "He's actually got a point."

"I think if aliens can be hurt by explosions, they're still susceptible to frostbite," Maddie said. "And we should be safe rather than sorry." 

"I'll just be one minute," Sonic promised, already sliding over to the door. 

"No, Sonic," Tom said, before the door opened and closed in a flash of blue, and Sonic was gone. "He never listens!"

"He's a kid," Maddie said, putting her book down and standing. She grabbed her coat and a pair of gloves. "We'll go out and make sure he doesn't hurt himself." 

Tom sighed, but he stood and put on his own coat.

* * *

Sonic was cold. 

He really hadn’t expected that. Considering that he was an alien, and that he’d never been cold in his cave before, he figured the snow would be no problem. 

Instead, he stood shivering as the snow rained down around him, wondering why he hadn’t thought to grab the scarf he’d knit (all by himself!) after Maddie taught him how. 

”Sonic!” Tom and Maddie’s voices were distant, but enough for Sonic to at least start carefully making his way back to the house. 

At least he thought it was the way back to the house. 

”Sonic! Where are you?” No, Tom’s voice was definitely farther away now. Sonic turned. Everything was covered in snow, and it all looked the same. “Sonic, just stay where you are!” 

Sonic was cold, and scared, and worried he would never actually get to see the Wachowskis again, or his room, or even Ozzy—

There was electricity in the air, and Sonic could feel it sparking around him. It only served to make him more anxious, more scared of what was coming for him, more more more more more—

"Sonic!" Tom was in front of him, concern written across his face. Abruptly, Sonic's electricity cut off, leaving him shaking and exhausted. 

To Tom's surprise, the hedgehog threw himself into his arms, and Tom returned the embrace. "I'm sorry," Sonic mumbled, "you were right. I shouldn't have run off." 

Tom sighed, standing with Sonic still in his arms. Maddie was right— he was a kid. He was going to be irresponsible, and reckless, and he wasn't going to listen all the time. "I'm just glad you're okay," Tom said, carrying Sonic back to where Maddie was standing. The snow had died down, at least enough for them to see the path back to the house, and Maddie kept a comforting hand on the hedgehog still in Tom's arms as they headed back home. 

* * *

The house was warm, and Ozzy was waiting right outside the door when they walked in. Tom set Sonic down on the couch and sat down next to him, Maddie on his other side.

"You do need to listen to us, Sonic," Tom said. "We know what we're talking about."

"I know," Sonic said, voice much quieter than usual. "I'm sorry."

Maddie wrapped a hand around Sonic's shoulders and pulled him close. "I guess you've learned your lesson, though." 

Sonic nodded. The house was quiet for a moment, before he sneezed. "Huh," Sonic said. "I guess I can get sick."

Tom sighed. "I'll get the thermometer."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like to think the sorta power surges he has are based on emotion, so my brain immediately went "man panic attacks with that would be SHITTY"
> 
> also i know that this isnt how sickness works but like. let me have this.


	4. Work

There wasn't a "take your kid to work day" at the station, per se, but there was "Both of us are working and Sonic should not be left home alone day." And since Maddie needed peace and focus for _her_ job, it meant Sonic was spending the day with Tom and Wade.

"What's this?" Sonic asked, poking excitedly at various items on Wade's desk.

The officer chuckled. "That's a stapler." He grabbed a loose piece of paper from his desk and demonstrated the stapler's function as Sonic watched, fascinated. "See? It sticks the papers together."

"Please don't encourage him," Tom sighed. 

Sonic had already moved on to the next distraction, a wheeled chair behind one of the desks. He sat down and spun around in it until Tom stopped it, saying he would "make himself sick." Sonic would have argued, but he was already feeling a bit dizzy, so he relented.

The first call came in not long after Sonic tested out the spinning chair. One of the town's residents had a flat tire and didn't know how to change it on their own, so they had called the station to request help. Sonic begged Tom to let him come until the sheriff finally allowed him to accompany him. 

While Tom changed the tire, Sonic chatted with the woman who owned the car. Her name was Lily, and she ran a small flower store in town. 

"So which type of flower is the coolest?" Sonic asked, his legs swinging energetically as the two sat on the bench. 

Lily hummed. "I'd never really thought about it before," she said honestly. "Snapdragons are pretty interesting. And you can't go wrong with a good dahlia. But the one with the coolest _name_ has to be chrysanthemum."

"That _is_ a cool name!"

"Right?"

Tom stood from where he was working on the tire. "Alright, Lily, that should be good now. Let me know if anything else goes wrong."

"Thank you so much, Tom! And you too, Sonic," Lily said gratefully, admiring the new tire. "See you two around!"

* * *

Their next job involved fixing the wooden fence outside the local elementary school. Because it was a weekend, the school was empty, so Tom allowed Sonic to run loose on the playground. 

After a few minutes of running around, Sonic ended up by Tom's side, watching him fix the fence with curiosity. "So you just have to hit it really hard?" he asked, watching Tom hammer into the wood. 

"No, there's a nail in there," Tom explained. "It's holding the wood in place." 

Sonic listened, rapt, as Tom walked him through the steps of fixing a fence. 

* * *

On the way back to the station, Tom and Sonic had stopped by a local bakery to pick up bagels for lunch, bringing them back to the station to share with Wade, who had been fielding calls all day. 

"Yes! They gave us extra cream cheese," Sonic said excitedly, slathering the bagel with the cheese. Tom watched him apprehensively, eating his own modestly cream-cheesed bagel. 

"Not so much, Sonic," he chided. 

"But it's _so_ _good_!"

"Just 'cause it tastes good doesn't mean it's good to eat a pound of it," Wade interjected. "First lesson I learned in college."

"See?" Tom said. 

Sonic huffed, putting away the rest of the cream cheese and taking a bite of the bagel. "Fine," he said between chews. "But _I_ think it needs more cream cheese. I can barely taste it."

"It's taking up half the bagel."

Sonic shrugged. "Well, I don't taste it," he said petulantly. 

Tom sighed. "Kids," he said to Wade. 

"Yeah. I can't relate to that," Wade said, "but I agree with the sentiment."

* * *

"How was take your hedgehog to work day?" Maddie asked Tom as he and Sonic entered, Sonic heading to his room in a blur to get ready for dinner. "Did he get in a lot of trouble?"

"Just the normal amount," Tom said. 

Maddie smiled. "Well, did you have fun?"

"I didn't, but I'm sure he did," Tom said, hiding his fondness behind contempt.

There was another flash of blue. Sonic was back downstairs, still a ball of energy. "So!" he said. "What's for dinner?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is a police station? a miserable little pile of odd jobs
> 
> i don't, uh. know how to fix a fence. 
> 
> the more i write fanfic, the more i realize i don't know how to do a lot of simple things, which maybe i should be learning to do instead of writing fic?
> 
> naaaaaaaah.


	5. Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was writing this cause it’s my birthday and I’m considering this a present for myself
> 
> also you may notice my username changed! it used to match my old tumblr user, but that’s changed too, so now they match again

Sonic didn’t actually have a birthday, that he knew of, but he _did_ have his Earth-iversary. It was the anniversary of his first arrival on Earth, and every year he would seek out something sweet to eat to celebrate the occasion. 

Year one he found a box of candy bars that was only expired by a week or so and ate all of them. He got sick, but it was worth it. 

Years two through four he stole cookies from a local bakery when the owner wasn’t looking, but then the bakery closed down. Sonic wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t cry when he heard the news. 

Year five he managed, by sheer luck, to find an abandoned box of cupcakes, still perfectly fresh. They were _delicious_. 

Years six and seven he skipped, trying to be more mature and giving up childish notions like his Earth-iversary. 

Year eight he gave up on maturity and nabbed a carton of Ben and Jerry’s from the local supermarket after it closed. 

Year nine he found a Rice Krispie Treat that had been left behind during a child’s birthday party and took that. 

Now it was year ten. He hadn’t really expected anything for his Earth-iversary— he had mentioned it offhand to Tom and Maddie at some point, and they’d shared a “we’ll talk about this later” look. He hadn’t thought much of it then. 

He woke the morning of June 23rd to light streaming in through his window. It was a perfect summer day, and he jumped out of bed, racing downstairs to eat breakfast—

—only to see Tom and Maddie standing in front of him with a cake. “Happy Earth-iversary!” they cheered in unison. The same sentiment was written on the cake, along with a frosting-Earth. There were streamers strung along the kitchen ceiling, and a birthday hat on the table that was the same blue as Sonic’s quills.

”What— Is this for _me_?” Sonic asked, trying to blink back tears. “You didn’t have to...”

”We knew you don’t know your birthday,” Maddie said, placing the cake on the table and leaning down to Sonic’s level. “But we wanted you to experience something like it.” 

In a flash of blue, Sonic had his arms wrapped around her, only crying a _little_ into her shoulder. “Thank you,” he said.

Tom reached down to ruffle the quills on his head. “Anytime, kid.” 

* * *

After eating cake (for breakfast, which Sonic had never even considered _possible_ ), the family was seated at the table, Sonic bouncing in his chair with excitement. “What now?” he asked. “What do people do on their birthday?” 

Tom shrugged. “Anything they want,” he said. “It depends on the person.” 

”So do I get to choose what we do?” Sonic said, eyes bright with excitement. 

Maddie nodded. “Whatever you want.” 

Sonic began to think, running over options in his head. He had to pick something _perfect_ — the best birthday activity possible. 

Suddenly, he shot up. “Can we go to the movies?” he asked. “There’s that new one with all the car chases in it and it looks so cool please please please?” 

”Of course,” Maddie said, grabbing her wallet and keys. “We’ll head to the theater right now.” 

Sonic rushed out the door, in the car by the time Maddie and Tom had stood up. 

”I thought you hated action movies?” Tom whispered as he opened the door.

”I do,” Maddie replied, “but it’s his birthday. This is honestly _not_ the worst thing he could have picked.” 

”That’s true.” 

* * *

After the movie, the family wandered around the town, Sonic talking for nearly the entire time, overflowing with excited energy. 

When they got home, he was crashing from the day’s events. Maddie and Tom brought him upstairs and tucked him into bed. 

”Thank you,” Sonic said. “This has been the best Earth-iversary _ever_.”

Maddie smiled. “Next year’s will be even better,” she promised, and Sonic’s eyes flashed with excitement once more before he drifted off to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so after some research I determined that June 23 is sonic’s canon birthday, idk if it’s true but I’m sticking with it


End file.
